One of the books I’m reading on vacation is A Shelter in the Time of Storm by Paul Tripp. I will confess that I cannot stop reading, but I’m reading books geared to address my spiritual condition during this vacation. It isn’t deep theology but practical theology.
In this particular book, Tripp is providing a series of meditations on Psalm 27 which is one of my favorite Psalms. In the portion I read today he referred to:
4 One thing have I asked of the Lord,
that will I seek after:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord
and to inquire in his temple.
He spoke about sight, or the lack of it, through his friend George. George is physically blind. It shapes his entire life, and he has to compensate for this reality. One way he compensates is by recognizing his limitations (as the philosopher Harry Callahan said, “A man’s got to know his limitations.”). Another way he compensates is to ask others to help in light of those limitations.
Tripp uses this to address the reality of our spiritual blindness. He overstates the case, for the Christian. I’m no longer spiritually blind due to regeneration, but my spiritual eyesight is not perfect.
All my life my father has worn glasses. He recently had cataract surgery. He now only needs glasses to read. His eyesight is greatly improved over his previous condition, even before his cataracts. But he needs reading glasses.
Our spiritual blindness has been removed to a great degree. We “see” Christ and the gospel. But we still have blind spots. There are things about God and ourselves that we can’t see well, clearly or even at all (Calvin notes that our knowledge of God and ourselves is connected).
Tripp’s point is that we need to admit we have blind spots and need to compensate for them. We are to use the corrective lens of the Scriptures, illuminated by the Spirit, to help us see more clearly. But we are also to depend on community, the help of others to help us see God and ourselves more clearly.
Part of our blindness is to our own sin. We seem to see the sin of others very clearly. Jesus warns us about our inner Pharisee who is always on the look out for other people’s sin while being blind to our own.
“Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. 3 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. Matthew 7
We tend to judge others. By that Jesus means condemn. It isn’t simply saying an action was wrong, and that is why His warning is so stark. Watch out, the same measure will be used against you! Do you judge/condemn people based on their worst moment? Do you offer them grace and repentance?
Even more importantly, do you see yourself? Is the log in your eye clear to you? Probably not or you would have dealt with it. Jesus longs for us to deal with our sin first. Jesus begins with addressing them as a community, for the verbs in nouns in vv. 1-2 are plural. But He shifts to the personal as they are then singular.
Churches can be very focused on the sins of other churches (especially if there was a denominational or congregational split), or of the surrounding community of unbelievers (this is the problem of culture wars- sin is out there, not also in here). Jesus is telling our congregations and denominations to stop focusing on “their” sin (whomever they may be) and get the log out of our collective eyes. We need to see ourselves more clearly in light of who God is, and repent of our sins before we are calling out others, as a community. This should be reflected in our preaching and our conversation. What a change it would make in our evangelism if we came from a posture of humility and repentance instead of condemnation?
We as people are often blinded to our sinful contributions to our communities. We need to get the log out of our own eyes before we start to judge and condemn our brothers. Note that: Jesus says we can’t help our brothers until we are honest about ourselves. Our calling is not to become the Accuser of the Brothers.
Imagine if everyone or at least most of the people in your church were focused on their sins and not other people’s sins. Reconciliation is much easier when people are “getting the log out” and owning their contributions to the conflict. Reconciliation is incredibly difficult when you think it is all the other person’s fault. Our spiritual blind spots lead us to think that we see it all clearly, when we don’t. We think we see clearly, perfectly, but we do not.
We not only need the Scriptures, but also one another as part of the Spirit-dwelling community. Recognizing you have blind spots means you invite feedback. I do this (though not all the time). The feedback should come from someone involved in the situation, not simply someone you told your side to. I ask “the guys in the room”. I ask if I was out of line. I can’t see my sin clearly and I want them to help me see it.
I don’t usually ask the person who is mad at me because their vision is often blinded to a degree. As both (all) of you seek to get the logs out of your eyes, this becomes more reasonable. I don’t need the participate in nor invite the ministry of condemnation. We are to restore one another gently (Gal. 6).
You can come alongside your brother and ask if they want 3rd party feedback. But people generally don’t give it unless asked. So ask. Ask your spouse if you were harsh with your child. Perhaps ask someone if you were harsh with your spouse. Or friend. Ask for help to see the log you need to get out of your eye so you can help your brother.
Imagine a community committed to that! That’s the community I want to be a part of, one in which people see themselves as the biggest sinners in the room, asking for help with their logs and gentle addressing the specks in their brother’s eyes. I want to be part of a community that focuses more on the holiness of the community than the unholiness of the world.
Cavman Considers 
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